Data centers may contain a large number of compute devices in a relatively small area, and the total power used by the compute devices is often high enough to require active cooling of the data center to prevent overheating, such as through an air conditioning unit. If the temperature of the data center is too hot, the components of the compute devices may overheat, causing damage or premature failure. If the air conditioner is run at full capacity all of the time, the temperature of the data center may be lower than necessary, which may be a waste of resources.
The compute devices in a data center may not always be run at maximum capacity, and so the heat generated by the compute devices may vary over time. For example, several users of the data center may begin tasks at about the same time, and those tasks may be completed at about the same time. As a result, the cooling required may vary over time as well.